Decentralized applications are applications that run on peer-to-peer networks, rather than on a single computer. Transactions associated with decentralized applications are typically processed by nodes (or computers) on the peer-to-peer network based on trustless protocols or a series of validation rules established by the creators of the decentralized application. A critical component of decentralized applications is the manner in which transactions associated with the decentralized application are verified and recorded.
In many decentralized applications, verified transactions are committed to a blockchain. Many types of blockchains exist. In general, they are distributed ledgers shared by the nodes on a network to which transactions are recorded and validated. A block is a part of a blockchain, which records some or all of the recent transactions. Once completed, a block is stored in the blockchain as a permanent database. Each time a block gets completed, a new one is generated. Each block in the blockchain is connected to the others (like links in a chain) in proper linear, chronological order. Every block contains a hash of the previous block. The blockchain has information about different user addresses and their balances right from the genesis block to the most recently completed block.
Recent advances in decentralized applications have enabled high-throughput transaction processing speed. Conventionally, increased throughput transaction processing speed has been achieved via software stack development and/or protocol consolidation. However, many of the operations required to verify transactions are computationally intensive. As a result, users in decentralized applications may be incentivized to skip verification operations to preserve computational resources and apply them in a manner that may benefit them financially, but also create security concerns and limit the scalability of the decentralized application. This is sometimes referred to as the “verifier's dilemma.” It would be desirable to provide systems and methods that encompass a hardware solution to the verifier's dilemma by facilitating increased throughput transaction processing speed in decentralized application via a fixed pipeline hardware architecture.
Furthermore, performing the necessary cryptographic operations to verify a transaction in decentralized applications places extreme demand on processors in a computer system. To meet these demands, dedicated hardware units may be used to perform various operations associated with a cryptography algorithm. These units may include various integer and floating point arithmetic operations, bitwise logic operations, and/or comparison operations. The rapid of evolution of blockchain applications is expected to require high-performance cryptographic operations to be performed on numerous transitions and/or blocks, contributing to the difficulty and cost associated with units designed for blockchain transaction verification. It would be desirable to provide systems and methods that encompass a hardware solution that requires reduced chip area and can be used more efficiently to perform required cryptographic operations.